Dream Runner: The Tales of Harmony
by StarGuardian7
Summary: I am Dream Runner, although long ago many ponies knew me by another name. Before the Regal Sisters overthrew Discord and claimed Equestria as their new kingdom, Discord tormented the ponies with his chaos and destruction. Until a group of young ponies challenged the tyrant king. (Disclaimer: I don't own MLP FiM. If I did, this wouldn't be fanfic)
1. Chapter One: A Dusty Volume

Princess Twilight Sparkle dusted off the old book that was inside the castle library. She had been searching throughout the Star Swirl the Bearded section for a spell that would ward off the storm that plagued the castle day and night. Princesses Celestia and Luna attempted to remove the storm when the Pegasus ponies' efforts proved fruitless. Celestia's and Luna's efforts were fruitful but not in a normal sense. Instead of water it rained applejuice. Luna wanted to continue in their efforts to stop the storm but Celestia left the task to Twilight, certain that she would solve the strange problem.

Setting down the cloth which she cleaned the book with, she levitated the book in front of her eyes so she could read the title. Grumbling in annoyance, she tossed the book aside where it hit a certain purple baby dragon on the head.

"Ouch! Twilight, careful where you throw that!"

"I'm sorry Spike but this is too frustrating. How am I supposed to find a spell when this section is as organized as Pinkie Pie's bedroom?" Twilight looked out of the window where she saw Pinkie holding an umbrella upside-down, catching the applejuice. "At least some ponies aren't bothered by the weather."

"But without any sunlight, how am I going to grow any apples to feed Ponyville?" an orange colored pony commented. Applejack tossed aside a book."

Twilight looked at Applejack. "I thought the storm covered only Canterlot. It can't be that wide, can it?"

A blue pony answered that from above their heads. "No, but Princess Celestia says its getting bigger."

Applejack nodded at Rainbow Dash. "She's right. If this storm grows anymore it'll cover Equestria."

Spike waddled over to Twilight, holding up the book that she had thrown at him. "Well its not like Equestria will end if we don't find a spell. What kinds of books are these anyways? This one says The Tales of Harmony. Huh, that sounds weird."

Twilight picked up the book. "Spike, the Tales of Harmony are just bedtime stories for little ponies. Hardly worth locking up in the Star Swirl the Bearded section where only the most secret of books are kept."

A white pony perked up at this. "The Tales of Harmony? How come I've never heard of them before?"

"I thought all ponies knew about them Rarity. Most in Canterlot do. My parents used to tell them to me at night as they tucked me in" Twilight responded. "Perhaps the tales weren't spread to Ponyville."

Rainbow Dash Settled next to Twilight. "I haven't heard about them in Cloudsdale either. What are they?"

Happy to recite her knowledge, Twilight took a deep breath to explain. Taking the book from Spike, she smiled and turned around to see Pinkie Pie holding her juice-filled umbrella. Twilight screamed and so did Pinkie Pie, who threw the umbrella up and drenched the company in sweet applejuice.

"PINKIE PIE!" Twilight roared.

"Whoopsies, I didn't mean for that to get spilled everywhere. Its just you went 'ahhh!' so I went 'AHHHH!' and i spilled the juice on the books, which i hope weren't important because now they're soaked and so are you and I only wanted to surprise you a teensy-bit but instead you freaked so I freaked and then we all got wet."

Blowing her dripping mane from her face, Rarity said "well you did a good job of soaking everything. Just look at my mane!"

Twilight was about to say something when the librarian passed by and saw the dripping books. "OUT! OUT! EVERYONE LEAVE THE LIBRARY NOW!" she screamed as she fell among the books, trying to dry them with her breath.

Twilight approached the librarian. "I'm sorry, it was an acci-"

The librarian turned, facing Twilight with a glare that could melt ice. Panicking, Twilight and her friends ran from the upset unicorn.


	2. Chapter Two: Back To Chaos and Discord

(Authors Note: I read every review that is posted so if you like it please read and review. Also, I am taking OCs at this point. No alicorns. Please PM me to send the OC descriptions.)

"-and that's what happened Princess," Twilight finished with her head bowed. She knew that Princess Celestia would be disappointed about the ruined books.

Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment. "Most of those books are rare, some even the only existing copies, Twilight. You understand that the Librarian was just in her demands for you to leave."

"Yes, Princess." Twilight's head fell lower. She would probably spend the next three weeks copying down the damaged pages and writing them into new books for the Librarian.

"Normally I would send you to assist the Librarian with cleaning the mess," Celestia said. Twilight closed her eyes. "However, the Librarian specifically requested that you don't enter the library for the next week."

Twilight's head shot up. "WHAT?! But how am I to conduct research without any books? I can't learn the cause of the storm without..." Twilight trailed off as Celestia simply looked at her. Hanging her head again, she finished "yes, Princess."

"Your friend Fluttershy requested to see you. I believe Discord has something that might assist your research."

"Princess, I must ask. Do you think Discord is causing this storm?"

Celestia walked over to a window overlooking the castle gardens. "I am not sure. I hope he is not. However, Discord refuses to explain the storm to me even though he claims to knows something about it."

Twilight thought about Discord. This would be just the kind of thing she could imagine Discord doing. After all, he loved playing with the world and messing up reality.

Princess Celestia interrupted Twilights thoughts. "You must go see them now. I have other matters I must attend to."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "Yes Princess. Thank you." Twilight turned to leave.

"Wait Twilight. Before you go, please tell me where you found that book." Celestia nodded at the book Twilight had with her.

"Oh this? I brought this from the Star Swirl the Bearded section. It was the only book I could save from getting wet."

"Interesting that you found that book. Perhaps you should read it."

"But its The Tales of Harmony. Everypony knows these by heart."

"Not everypony. And that particular copy is...special."

"Special? How?"

Celestia walked away, leaving Twilight with a puzzled look on her face. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she left for the gardens to find Fluttershy.

The castle grounds were large and mostly beautiful. However, a large labyrinth made of hedges stood out like a sore thumb amond the trees and flowers. This labyrinth, a permanent part of the grounds, was where she first saw Discord. Where he tricked her friends and turned them against each other. How ironic that she would return there to see him again, not as an enemy but as (she supposed) a friend.


	3. Chapter Three: Disharmony in Equestria

(A/N: Still taking OCs. Dream will show up soon)

"This was not how I imagined seeing Discord," Twilight said to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight, then grinned nervously. "Well, he said he wanted to play."

Twilight looked at the tea party Fluttershy was having with her animal friends. Discord, being...himself, had turned into a teapot and was pouring tea for Angel. "Come now, Twilight, the one thing you should know about me is you can't know anything about me," the teapot said.

"Right. I forgot you're Discord," Twilight said flatly. The teapot vanished and Discord appeared on a lawn chair, wearing sunglasses under the applejuice rain. "I'll get to the point. What do you know about this rain?"

Discord stretched, yawning. "Why would I tell you _that_?"

"AHA! So you _are_ causing this rain, aren't you?" Twilight accused.

"Sorry, guess again," Discord said, tossing aside his sunglasses.

"Bu-but you know whats causing this rain." It was not a question.

Fluttershy stepped in. "Discord, you should tell Twilight whats making this rain. Remember what I told you about keeping secrets from friends?" she said sternly.

Discord appeared next to Twilight, shrugging. "Alright, since she _is_ my friend after all." Pointing at the sky he said, "Twilight, this rain isn't natural, as you know." He paused for a moment as Pinkie Pie, who was behind them, rolled in the juice-mud. "Its caused by Disharmony."

Twilight, trying to ignore Pinkie's laughs, looked skeptically at Discord. "But you said _you weren't_ causing the rain."

Ignoring her last comment, Discord continued. "Disharmony is the lack of order in Equestria. When Harmony is gone, this happens." Discord waved his arms around him.

Twilight blinked. "So your telling me that there's no Harmony in Equestria anymore. I don't believe that."

Discord shook his head. "No, Harmony is still in Equestria. Protected by the most powerful magical objects known." Discord looked at Twilight.

"Your not telling me anything Discord. What is causing this rain?" Twilight was growing impatient.

"Must I really explain everything to you?" Discord sighed dramatically, then held up a mirror. The mirror glowed and six ponies appeared in them. "Many years ago when _I_ ruled Equestria, Disharmony was a fact of life. The only thing you could count on was that nothing was predicatable. Then a group of ponies discovered the Elements of Harmony." The ponies moved in the mirror, depicting his words. "Two Alicorns soon came to me and my reign was short lived afterwards. Using the Elements, the Alicorns changed Equestria into a place that ponies could understand, a land that had rules and limits." Discord's face replaced the mirror. "A dull world, but a world that had Harmony."

"So the elements are what keep Harmony in Equestria?"

"They do more than that. They are the very key that prevents Disharmony from striking Equestria," Discord dramatically pointed at the stormclouds. "When the elements of Harmony are weakened...you can see the results."

"But what happened to them?" Twilight was now understanding what Discord was telling her.

"Thats not _my_ field of expertise. I deal with Disharmony, not...yuck." Discord shivered, expressing his dislike of the Elements. "You best find out what happened. A word of advice: don't tamper with anything until you know you can fix it. Disharmony has a tendency to not work the way you expect."

Twilight glared at Discord. "Why don't _you_ fix this then, since you seem to know so much about it."

Discord laughed at this, putting his head back on. "Me fix it? Ridiculous! I can't mess with other people's magic, even if I wanted to. I could try, but I would probably make this much worse. The more Disharmonic magic you use, the crazier things become. Without the Elements of Harmony working properly, I can't do anything to help."

Twilight frowned, then suddenly perked up. "Disharmonic magic? You mean anypony could harness this power?"

Discord arched a brow at this. "In theory yes. It doesn't matter what kind of pony you are. But knowledge on this is very scarce. In all the millenia I've seen only a handful of ponies that were able to understand this power. Even Celestia knows very little."

"Do you know anyway to find out who is using this magic? Track them maybe?"

"Its not possible. But then again, this magic likes to prove the impossible. The more you try to understand it, the harder it becomes to learn it."

"How _do_ you know how to control it Discord?" Twilight was curious.

"Helllooooo? Spirit of Disharmony and everything. I just know it." Discord rolled his eyes. "Your best bet is to find some book that may teach you. But be warned: this magic is worse than dark magic. Trying to control it can destroy you. Or worse."

"Worse? What could be worse than being destroyed by my own magic?!"

"I knew one guy who had a rather... _unlucky_ encounter with it. I'm not certain what became of him."

"What happened?"

"I won't go into details... let's just say his friends never saw him again."

"Who was this pony?"

"I only knew him as Dream Runner. He went by many names to avoid capture."

Excited, Twilight ran off, leaving Fluttershy and Discord with a quick goodbye. She burst into the castle and ran at a gallop to find Princess Celestia.


End file.
